"The Backrooms (Found Footage)", also known as "Backrooms: A Short Film" or simply "Backrooms", and later retroactively retitled as "Found Footage #1", is the premiere episode of the American science fiction analog horror web series Backrooms, based on the creepypasta of the same name by Black August.[3] The episode premiered on YouTube on January 7, 2022. Starring, written, directed, and animated by Kane Parsons (credited as Kane Pixels), it was independently produced by the filmmaker using Blender when he was 15-years-old.[4][5]
| "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" | |
|---|---|
| Backrooms episode | |
| Directed by | Kane Parsons[1] |
| Written by | Kane Parsons |
| Editing by | Kane Parsons |
| Original air date | January 7, 2022[2] |
| Running time | 9 minutes |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 | |
 "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" — Official upload of the episode onto YouTube |
Following the episode going viral as a short film, Parsons elected to expand the film into a full semi-anthological web series, with "Found Footage #1" retrofit as its first episode, including two stand-alone follow-ups to the episode titled "Found Footage #2" in August 2022 and "Found Footage #3" in September 2024. Additionally, due to the initial short film's success, Parsons was contracted by A24 to direct a feature film continuation, and several video games using lore and Blender models created for the episode were produced by other parties.[6] In November 2024, Netflix titled a Squid Game promotional minisode produced by Matt Studios "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" after Parsons' short film.[7]
Plot
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In 1991, while three students are filming a horror short film, the cameraman, who directly films the film, suddenly falls into the Backrooms. After falling down, he calls out for his friends, and on finding no-one around, walks around the yellow-wallpapered connecting rooms around him, oblivious to a gangly figure observing him from the darkness, briefly caught on his camera. After climbing a ladder leading to a new room, he follows some arrows painted on the wall leading to yellow wall with a black face, a window drawn and a message saying to "Don't Move, Stay Still". The cameraman turns around to find the figure behind him, a non-human figure yelling a warped version of these words, who pursues him through the rooms. To escape, the cameraman jumps down a hole into a lower floor.
On making his way to a a blue room with a staircase, the cameraman finds himself in an area with lots of windows and the outside of a lift. After some time, the cameraman eventually enters a door with a fire exit sign which leads him back to another section of yellow rooms. After walking around for a while, a chair is kicked around the corner by another figure, who slowly walks around, the cameraman avoiding it around the corner. On approaching a "cliff" around that corner, the cmeraman turns around to find the figure has walked up behind him, lifting him up in the air and leading him to drop his camera, which falls off the cliff, which leads back to Earth on September 3, 1996, hundreds of feet in the air before landing on the ground, preventing him from dying from the fall. While the cameraman's fate is left unknown, the video ends with footsteps approaching the camera as birds chirp.
Cast
edit- Henry Greber as Matesse Aaron (The Film Director)
- Kane Parsons as Kane Pixels (The Cameraman), a fictionalised version of himself
- Blane Solis as The Sound Guy
- Aakash Valdivia as The Guy with with the Monkey Mask
Reception
editCritical reception
editThe episode was critically acclaimed, with WPST calling it "the scariest video on the Internet".[8] Otaku USA categorized it as analog horror,[9] while Dread Central and Nerdist compared it favorably to the 2019 video game Control.[10][11] Kotaku praised the series for exercising restraint in its horror and mystery.[12] Boing Boing's Rob Beschizza predicted that the episode, like the creepypasta Slender Man and its panned 2018 film adaptation, would eventually be adapted into a "slick but dismal 2-hour Hollywood movie".[13]
On February 6, 2023, A24 announced they were working on a Backrooms feature film based on the original "The Backrooms (Found Footage)" episode, with Parsons directing and Will Soodik writing,[14][15] which was ultimately released on May 7, 2026.
Accolades
editIn December 2022, Kane Parsons received a Creator Honors award for the episode at the 2022 Streamy Awards from The Game Theorists (by MatPat).[16]
See also
edit
References
edit- ↑ "The Backrooms (Found Footage) (2022)". Letterboxd. January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2022.
A short horror film about liminal spaces.
- ↑ Parsons, Kane (January 7, 2022). The Backrooms (Found Footage). Kane Pixels. Retrieved January 7, 2022 – via YouTube.
- ↑ August, Black (September 6, 2025). The Original Creator of The Backrooms! (Black August Interview). Mctoran. Retrieved September 6, 2025 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Lloyd, Andrew (March 29, 2022). "The Backrooms: How a Creepy Office Photo Became an Internet Bogeyman". Vice. Archived from the original on November 30, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
- ↑ Rogers, Reece (May 11, 2022). "How to 'No-Clip' Reality and Arrive in the Backrooms". Wired. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
- ↑ Lyons, Ben (September 18, 2025). "Escape the Backrooms will leave Early Access in October". Gamereactor. Archived from the original on November 7, 2025. Retrieved February 24, 2026.
- ↑ Matt Studios (November 25, 2024). The Backrooms (Found Footage) | Squid Game: Season 2 | Netflix. Netflix. Retrieved November 25, 2024 – via YouTube.
- ↑ Russell, Erica (January 17, 2022). "The Backrooms Viral Horror Short Explained". WPST. Archived from the original on January 31, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ↑ Dennison, Kara (February 7, 2022). "See Attack on Titan Through the Eyes of Backrooms Director Kane Pixels". Otaku USA. Archived from the original on February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ↑ McAndrews, Mary Beth (January 14, 2022). "The Backrooms Is A Found Footage Nightmare Freaking Out The Internet". Dread Central. Archived from the original on January 31, 2022. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
- ↑ Anderson, Kyle (March 22, 2022). "Terrifying Backrooms Short Film Is Also Super Impressive". Nerdist. Archived from the original on December 31, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2023.
- ↑ Walker, John (April 4, 2023). "The 4Chan Creepypasta That's Taking Over The World (And You May Not Even Realize It)". Kotaku. Retrieved April 10, 2023.
- ↑ Beschizza, Rob (February 1, 2022). "Explore The Backrooms in this short found-footage horror flick". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on February 1, 2022.
- ↑ Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "The Backrooms Horror Film Based On Viral Shorts By 17-Year-Old Kane Parsons In Works At A24, Atomic Monster, Chernin & 21 Laps". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
- ↑ Burton, Carson (February 6, 2023). "YouTube Horror Series The Backrooms Is Getting Turned Into a Feature Film". IGN. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
- ↑ Tinoco, Armando (December 15, 2022). "YouTube Streamy Awards 2022 Winners List: Charli D'Amelio, MissDarcei, MrBeast & Cooking With Lynja Among Victors". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 15, 2022.